Bible Verse of the Day Wednesday September 6th, 2023

Mark 11:22-23“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered.  “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

There is a great misconception among believers that prayer changes things. The prayer does not accomplish this task; God affects the changes. People often mistakenly believe that the power exists in the prayer itself, so when they have exhausted all their other options, they decide to give prayer a shot. They do this with the attitude, "I've tried everything else. I'll see if prayer will work."

 

In our text today, Jesus clears up this misapprehension; he instructs us to "have faith in God." He does not say to have faith in prayer but faith in God. Jesus often used hyperbole in His teaching, which He is applying here. He said to His followers that they could tell a mountain to move, and it would. Then He explained the meaning of the hyperbole, "Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." God will hear us, and we will receive an answer to our prayers only if we ask in faith and it is directed to God and in His will, not ours (1 John 5:14). 

 

I lived in the Pacific Northwest for some years and enjoyed the immense beauty of the Cascade Mountains. I have often thought it would be nice if God could move those mountains to my backyard here in Virginia. That is not in His will, but there is something much more important in His will that He has done for us. He will remove a lot of mountains from our life, the mountains of anxiety, anger, and fear, and cast them in the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19). God may not move the mountains for you, but He will remove them from your life.

 

Remember Peter when he asked Jesus to allow him to walk on the water? Jesus said, "Come," which put it in God's will; this and Peter's faith allowed him to step out of the boat and walk on the water. However, Peter began to sink when he took his eyes of faith off Jesus and allowed fear to take over. As long as his faith was in Jesus, he stayed above water; however, when he began to doubt, he began to sink. It works the same way for us today; if we keep our eyes and faith in Jesus, the storms of life will not engulf us. However, when we look inward to our strength, life's storms will pull us under, just as the water pulled Peter down when he took his eyes of faith off of Jesus on the sea of Galilee.  

 

The key is faith in God and God's will.